Warwick Corvette Standard

Recent Reviews

Most playable

4/5,4 out of 5, reviewed Feb 4, 2017

Tone:

4/5,

Build Quality:

5/5,

Feel:

5/5,

Value:

4/5,

Pros

+ Feel and build quality

Cons

- Heavy. And requires waxing care.

'99 corvette std was my 1st 5er

It's a keeper. I love the feel of the neck. Rock solid setup. Has never requires adjustment. You can set action crazy low. So it plays easy and fast for a bass. I love the low end tone. Big clean bottom heavy sound.

To me it sounds fantastic and clean.

I have many many hours on this bass and see very little evidence of fret or neck wear.

Although it does require waxing ( I always use Warwick wax ) it comes up like brand new After its done. I typically only wax it when I change strings.

Another reviewer mentioned that it didn't sit well in the mix. I also find this to be true only in certain types of band configuration. If I'm playing with several electric guitars ... especially with a les Paul type rhythm guitar, it does seem to be tough to pull out of the mix. However in a quartet / jazz or acoustic set ... It's perfect. For crazy deep loud ... It is thunderously low and also perfect. But I do get lost in the mix for much that I play.

It's also pretty heavy ... So I often find myself playing other basses when I'm with a larger band configuration, or going to be standing a lot.

I bought a Chinese Corvette to use while my RIC was being repaired. I liked it so much I bought a real German Corvette. The Chinese Rockbass is good, but the German version is much better.

I prefer the neck on my RIC (slightly) but the quality and range of sounds available in the active Corvette means the RIC never comes out anymore. I've actually grown quite comfortable with the "baseball bat" neck.

The finish is great. There's actually no finish, just the waxed bare wood. I hate relic looking instruments. There's a good sized divot above the neck pickup from the previous owners thumb nail for example. No problem, just wax over it and it blends right in. I treat the neck with lemon oil rubbed in with scotchbrite. It makes a very smooth non-sticky neck, unlike ones that are finished with a high gloss poly.

It is heavy, but that has never been an issue for me. The neck never moves, and it always stays in tune.

I did replace the rather cheesy tuners with Gotohs that look very similar but are of much better quality.

This was my first "real" bass, or first bass costing over a few hundred bucks. The one I had was Bubinga with a Wenge neck, and active MECs. I believe it was a '98.

The bass had awesome action and played like a dream. I felt it almost had a spirit to it, maybe due to the woodiness and love I put into it waxing and doting over it. Anyhow, I originally bought the bass because I wanted a bass with lots of bottom, and this one couldn't be beat. Not even by Warwicks costing $1000 more. I was fortunate to be able to check out a whole bunch of Warwicks at the time of purchase in the old sound room of Rudy's Music in NYC, with the help of an ace sales dude that's no longer there. The room is no longer their either... anyhow, money wasn't an issue for me at the time. I wanted a deep and dark sounding bass, and this one had that in spades.

What I didn't realize at the time of purchase was that it also weighed quite a bit, and what I found was it was a bit difficult to mix in with the band when I started gigging with it. There was a lot of boom, and sizzle, and not a whole lot in between. It was tough to eq it where it wasn't either booming or clacking, and it was only on rare occasions that I got it to sit in the mix as I wanted it to. That and the weight are what eventually got me to sell mine. I later bought a Fortress one, which gave me all I hoped the Corvette would have. It has a little less low end, but site much more nicely in the mix and isn't a back breaker.

One thing I absolutely loved about the Corvette was the tone I got out of it in the studio. The entire All We Want Is Fun CD linked on the page below was recorded on the Warwick. Road Rage is one of my favs on that album.